WWJD?

(Originally written: March 2009)

WWJD?

What would Jesus do?

Today there are Christians who try to live by the mantra, "WWJD?". Instead of asking "What WOULD Jesus Do", christians need to start asking, "What DID Jesus do?" Until christians are willing to lay down their lives for the very people that they commonly condemn, they are not doing what Jesus did.

By Christianity's own teachings, Jesus did not tell the sinners and outcasts that they were wrong and curse them for living a way he thought they shouldn't, nor tell them they had to change. He didn't revile, rebuke, or condemn them--he saved that for the self-righteous and religious of the day. The people that the religious shunned and looked upon with contempt--the poor, the lowly, the "unclean"--were the friends of Jesus. He spent time with them. He fed them. He cared for them. He DIED for them.

What would happen if a christian said, "Today, instead of fighting against homosexuality, I am going to fight for all people to have the privileges that I have; to strive for all people to live with dignity and respect; to stand up for the right of ALL people to have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?" That Christian's life, in his christian realm, would be done. He would be reviled. He would be denigrated. His "christian credibility" would be shattered. And in so doing, he would have laid down his life, taken up his cross, and followed Jesus.

Instead of asking "What would Jesus do?" then militantly insisting that they are right and everyone else is wrong, christians should ask, "What DID Jesus do?" Then, go and feed the hungry, take care of the underprivileged, get involved in the larger community. If they are willing to give up their life for someone they don't even know, willing to give up everything so that those who come after them have a better life, THEN they are willing to do what Jesus did.

What did Jesus do?

WDJD?